The Character of False Teachers

Transcript

GR 1964
10/2/2016
The Character of False Teachers
II Peter 2:10-14
Gil Rugh

We are studying 2 Peter together so please turn in your Bibles to 2 Peter chapter 2. As I noted in our previous study it is interesting to me that at times when some of the New Testament men used of God are near to the end of their lives, they focus on what they have to say or their concerns for the corruption that will infiltrate the church after they are gone. Remember in Acts chapter 20 Paul is meeting with the Ephesian elders to what he believed would be the last time and he said to them, “From among your own selves men will arise speaking perverse things, seeking to draw the disciples away after them. Therefore be on the alert.” When he wrote his last letter to Timothy he reminded him that there would be false teachers that would come and believers would turn and be leered astray by them, who would come to the point that they wouldn’t want to hear sound, healthy teaching but they will pile up teachers for themselves having their own desires.

Peter is writing this 2nd epistle knowing as Christ has revealed to him that at any time he will be giving his life as a martyr and he writes this serious letter and in it he talks about the corruption that will infiltrate the church. It is not like this is something that could happen but probably won’t. They write under the inspiration of the Spirit, this is something that will happen and you must be prepared for it. The greatest danger, as we have talked about, is not from opposition from without. It is opposition that is from within. That is more dangerous. We are expecting the unbelievers outside the church to be opposed to the truth and maybe to persecute us for proclaiming truth but we are somewhat confused, often by the fact that it comes from within, from those who would be identified as part of the church.

He began 2 Peter chapter 2 by saying, “False prophets also among the people (now note this) just as there will also be false teachers among you. I am hoping it will be different in the church than it was in Israel.” He says it will be no different because the devil does not change his tactics.

Remember when Paul wrote 2 Corinthians and in chapter 11 he said, “The devil masquerades himself as an angel of light.” We shouldn’t be surprised that his followers masqueraded themselves as angels of light. “They will secretly introduce destructive heresies.” And that becomes part of the problem. They secretly introduce destructive heresies.

Turn over to the book of Jude, just a few pages over just before the book of Revelation, the little one chapter of Jude. And as you are aware, that one chapter of Jude is very similar in context to the second chapter of 2 Peter but you will note what he said. We have looked at this in verse 3 that he felt the necessity to write to them “to be earnestly contending for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” Why? “For certain persons have crept in unnoticed.” These are unbelievers who have made their way and infiltrated in among believers in the churches, have been accepted and welcomed as believers but they were “those long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turned the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.” That is the same thing Peter says back in chapter 2 when at the end of verse 1 he said, “They will be denying the Master who bought them.”

Now emphasizing this because we have come down to verse 10 in our study of this chapter and Peter is going to begin to discuss something of the character and conduct of these false teachers. We scratch our head and say, “This is so blatant, so opening defiant and arrogant. How did these people ever get accepted in the church?” We just want to keep before us that he is describing their character. He is describing their conduct but it often has a veneer of righteousness over it. And that is what is confusing so often to the church that we are caught off-guard if you will. We were not expecting it.

Verse 9 of chapter 2 was the pivotal verse and the summary of what he has said. He talked about the false teachers. Then he gave examples of God dealing with these unbelievers beginning with angels who rebelled against God then the world in the days of Noah that was destroyed in judgment by the flood, righteous Lot and an ungodly city that was annihilated by the judgment of God and the two principles he draws. Verse 9: “Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from testing” like Noah and his immediate family in the days of the flood. They were rescued from the judgment and Lot, a righteous man, rescued from the judgment poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah.

The point being God knows how to rescue the godly from that time of testing and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment and these unrighteous are the false teachers and what he is going to do is go on now in verse 10 and following and describe the character of these false teachers. They are not just believers who stumble. These are unbelievers who have an agenda, who both in their doctrine and in their conduct, they are corrupt but as we go through this description we don’t want to be confused that they are blatantly, openly obvious. We saw that in verse 1. “They will secretly introduce destructive heresies.”

The false prophets in Israel’s history as you read like in the book of Jeremiah and the false prophets that opposed him as a true prophet, well, these guys could be convincing. They come with the confidence and the boldness that they are speaking from God and they can put on a good display. So don’t lose sight of the fact, “well this wouldn’t affect us.” These people are so obviously bad we will recognize them if they come. We will see more of this as we move along.

He is going to mention two over-all characteristics as we pick up in verse 10. “Especially those (and these are those, the unrighteous, the end of verse 9) are kept under punishment for the Day of Judgment.” So don’t think even though it may seem we are being overwhelmed by a tide of unbelief punishment will come at the proper time. And he has demonstrated that.

He will talk in verse 10, “Especially those who indulge the flesh and its corrupt desires and despise authority.” “All that is in the world, (I John tells us) the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” And that is what consumes and motivates the unbeliever. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. The Spirit directed Paul to write to the Romans. Why? Well, all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the boastful pride of life, the unbeliever cannot please God.

So even though by the grace of God it is not as open of a display and open of a rebellion as it might be we should not be lulled into a false sense.

There is an article I clipped out of the paper yesterday. Example of this where I mentioned it before because it is in a public newspaper of a person who would claim to be a conservative evangelical, identify with us where we are on the Gospel and a very open liberal pastor who does not believe the Gospel is the only way of salvation. They continue to meet together. They are having a meeting tonight while we meet downtown in what they call “Friendly Fire.” “We can think differently and still love alike. Although people like to categorize Christians as either conservative or liberal these are awkward distinctions when you consider we are unified in our faith in the God we know through Jesus Christ. Christians certainly disagree about theological matters but as the saying goes ‘if we cannot think alike can we not love alike.’” And then the liberal, they don’t want to use liberal but the unbelieving pastor and the believing pastor hope to model that true Christians on different sides of the theological spectrum can still show a respect and even have fun exploring the differences.

I have shared that I had opportunity on a few different occasions to meet with the prior pastor of this unbelieving church and he made no claim to believe the Word of God or the Gospel but we could not have friendly conversation. My conversation with him was we are mortal enemies, theologically and spiritually opposed to one another. This is not a game. We are not talking about Christians can disagree. Well wait a minute. We haven’t even defined what a Christian is Biblically. So we begin to soften the thinking and yes, we are Christians. I mean we are both talking about Jesus Christ but we are not saying the same thing about Him. We don’t believe the same thing about His person and work. So how can we say we as Christians can disagree theologically? We don’t even agree on what a Christian is and we can have fun exploring our differences?

Peter doesn’t think this is fun and games. He is going to give his life for what he believes. This goes on and everybody thinks, yes, why do some Christians have to be so narrow, so hard lined? They are always emphasizing what they are disagreements are. Because we have to be Biblical and as soon as we think we have found the way to soften people’s view of us there was a time we called it compromise. Now we call it expressing love and having fun talking about our disagreements. These issues are of eternal significance.

It’s not like Peter was living in a different day and a different time. Well a different day and a different time but the issues are exactly the same. That is why the Spirit of God has put it in the Word of God for us for today.

So “they indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires” verse 10 and “They despise authority.” “The flesh,” come back to Galatians 5. We say they indulge the flesh. What are the deeds of the flesh? Verse 19 of Galatians 5: “The deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outburst of anger, disputes, dissentions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing,” things like these. That is not even a complete list. It is an ugly list but it’s not a complete list. All those things that are contrary to the character of God and what is to be produced as the fruit of the Spirit which follows in verses 22 and 23 for those who have crucified the flesh by being identified by faith in Christ in His death, burial and resurrection and so on. The unbeliever is indulging in these things and they despise authority; back to Peter.

The unbeliever rejects the authority of God in his life. Thus he rejects the authority that God has established in all areas of life. Those who have rejected God’s authority, Jesus said “If you don’t believe Me you don’t believe My Father” and those who don’t believe when Jesus said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life no man comes to the Father but by Me,” you reject that you are rejecting the authority of God and His truth.

So that comes down to…. He not only rejects God’s authority, His authority is manifested in what He has said. Remember we have looked in passages like Romans 13. He established governmental authorities so those who rebel and reject the authority of the governing leaders He has appointed are in rebellion against God. Jesus talked about that also. Husband and wife – they are much more odious to the unbelieving world today than to talk about the authority of the husband in the home. So pretty soon we as believers begin to get uneasy about that and “well probably not a good day to be emphasizing that and you know maybe we have gone overboard.” But that is the authority God has established.

Most of the theological journals I get now from evangelical institutions have women as faculty members. They are writing articles. What has changed? Didn’t Paul say that he doesn’t have a woman teaching a man? Well, we are not a church so we just take over what the church is biblically to do, call it something else and then we don’t have to obey what God says and parents to children. Whoa! You know, children have their rights and just on it goes. So we ought not to be surprised because the unbeliever despises authority. They are talking about what God has established. Now he doesn’t mind seeing himself as his own authority but he despises the authority that God has established.

“They are daring, self-willed.” This is part of what sometimes causes us to take a step back. They are daring, they have boldness, brazenness in their action. They are self-willed. One commentator said, “The word used here as self-willed means self-willed with the implications of presumptuousness, arrogance, obstinacy.” So they are willing to stand read about the false prophets that rose in Israel’s history. They weren’t shrinking violets. They will stand up against Jeremiah and challenge him. Jeremiah is telling a lie. Look at these horns of iron. I am telling you that within two years God will drive out…… and on they go with their false prophecies. What, that’s pretty good. The problem is, none of it is true. But they are bold, they are brazen. They may come like, “Yes, I know the truth of God.” They don’t really recognize God’s authority and the authority that God has established.

Now interesting where he takes it. The end of verse 10: “Daring self-willed they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties.” He is talking here about the devil and fallen angels, the demons, angelic glories is the word here. We get the word doxology from this word and bring it over into English, glory. “They revile angelic glories, majesties.”

Turn over to Jude 8. It is talking about the same thing. Since it is so close we will come over here. Verse 8: “Yet in the same way these men (these false teachers) who have infiltrated, who have crept in unnoticed” as he said up in verse 4 “These men by dreaming defile the flesh, reject authority, revile angelic majesties.” It is just an indication. They speak lightly of the devil and how much of that goes on and among some who would claim to be, well, a literal devil, Satan, that was maybe back in a day when people were superstitious and saw everything as coming from some kind of enemy in the spirit world but we are more educated than that. And besides, it’s not a big deal. If you want to believe in a devil that is alright. Isn’t the basic thing we believe in the Gospel. We can have different views on the devil but I personally, these teachers would say, don’t believe it. They are despising angelic majesties and then the other side you have what is characteristic in the charismatic movement where they run around like they have authority over the devil. “We command you devil, get out of here” and “I command you devil to leave.” That is a way of despising angelic glories.

Keep your finger in Jude and come back to Peter. Then we will come back to Jude. We are having such fun in both books. Verse 11: “Whereas angels who are greater in might and power do not bring a reviling judgment against them before the Lord.” Isn’t it interesting, the different views. Even unfallen angels when dealing with the devil and other fallen angels show them respect. Now they don’t honor them in a wrong sense but they do show them the respect because God created them and gave them certain authority, certain glory and even though they are fallen they still respect him.

Come back to Jude, the example he gives. See the line follows the same although not exactly in every detail. Jude says, “Michael the archangel.” That is about as high as we know among the angels. He is the chief angel. “When he disputed about the devil with the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment but said the Lord rebuke you.” By that time the devil had fallen obviously. We are talking about the time at the death of Moses but Michael the archangel still has a respect for him. In my notes I used as an example of a former president. We still show them respect, give them a certain honor because of the position they had. That is still acknowledged in the spirit world. So it is not a sign of spirituality to speak lightly of the devil or to act as though I have authority over the devil. Michael didn’t even dare to do that because of the position he had had, Lucifer had had. Angels have greater power than us. That is what 2 Peter 2, verse 11 says: “They are greater in might and power. They do not bring a reviling judgment against these fallen angels before the Lord.”

Come back to Ezekiel. We have been there recently. Come back to Ezekiel 28 and concerning Lucifer before his fall. It gives you an indication of when the fall of Lucifer occurred. “You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom” verse 12 “and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God” then further descriptions. Verse 14: “You were the anointed Cherub who covers.” We noted a previous reference to this, the Cherub that covered the very throne of God. “I placed you there” and so on.

Well even though he has lost that position, even the unfallen angels show him respect out of their respect for God who had given him such an exalted position and even though he has fallen from that, his judgment is in the hands of God. They don’t obey Satan or Lucifer but they show him his due respect. Just like we are to do and Peter and Paul and those who wrote in the days of Nero, commanded what? You show them respect, honor. Nero was not a respectable man in his character but he is to be shown the honor and respect due him because of the position God had given him. So it is in the angelic world; so an indication of false teachers despising authority who carries it to how they view angels.

Come back to 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 11 again where they don’t bring a reviling of judgment. You know Satan is no longer that anointed Cherub who covers the throne of God but in the order of the world he has the greatest authority. By that I mean the greatest ruler on earth is under the authority of Satan.

Come back to John 12. He is called the ruler of this world, John chapter 12, verse 31: “Jesus said; ‘now judgment is upon this world.” Now the ruler of this world will be cast out. His death breaks the hold of Satan and would provide for his ultimate doom and destruction but I want to note here, he is called the ruler of this world. Remember back in the temptation in Matthew 4. He said to Christ, “I will give you all the kingdoms of the world if you will worship me because they have been given to me.” So he still functions with this authority.

You are in John’s Gospel come over to chapter 14, verse 30: “I will not speak much more with you.” We are here this last night of Christ as you are aware in these chapters in John. “For the ruler of the world is coming and He has nothing in Me.” And Satan getting involved and orchestrating the death of Christ. Only being an instrument God using his sinful action but he is the ruler of the world.

In chapter 16, verse 8: “Concerning judgment the Holy Spirit when He comes will convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.” Verse 11: “Concerning judgment because the ruler of this world has been judged.” With Christ’s victory over sin and Satan on the cross, His resurrection, the doom of Satan has been sealed. The victory over sin and the devil has been won. Now it all hasn’t been finally implemented yet and Satan’s final judgment will await until we come to the closing chapters of the book of Revelation and then his doom will be pronounced.

He is called the god of this world in II Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4 where “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so the light of the glory of the Gospel doesn’t shine in.” You realize what is going on, why the unbeliever is opposed to the Gospel. Why it is so hard to get through to them. They are in a spiritual battle and war. He is called the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians 2:2 and we all at one time lived under his power and authority; the prince of the power of the air. You see the ruler of this world, the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, I John chapter 5 verse 19. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” remarkable. I mean we ought not to be amazed at what was going on in the world around us. How would a world conduct itself that is being led and moved by Satan in rebellion against God?

We say, what is happening to our country? I mean how can they be doing this? What would you expect? Satan is relentless in his opposition against God and His children. What did Jesus say in John 8, “You always do the will of your father the devil.” He is a liar. He is opposed to the truth. They are called rulers and powers. “We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenlies,” rulers, powers, so opposition. We don’t take it lightly and we don’t treat him as though we were in position. But “the One greater who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.” We don’t look at it and say, “Well how can I resist the devil? How can I do battle against these spiritual forces?” We do it in the power and enablement that the Spirit gives. But without that the unbeliever is a pawn in the hands of the devil, a tool that he uses for his purposes. So we have a proper understanding of him, a respect of him, proper fear and we need that because don’t think you could do battle with the devil in your own strength. It is in the enabling power of the Spirit. Peter wants them to realize this is the characteristic of false teachers. They don’t have a healthy respect for the spirit world. Again you see that in the way people talk in the spirit realm about the devil. They are brazen about it. “Even when the angel of the Lord,” we were in Zechariah chapter 3 in our earlier study today. Chapter 3, verse 1 when Satan is present and making accusations there the angel of the Lord said what? “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem. So that proper recognition helps us function properly in recognizing false teachers.

Come back to 2 Peter, chapter 2, verse 12. He doesn’t speak nicely. The picture is ugly. The comparisons are not nice but this is the Spirit of God moving Peter to write. He says these false teachers that can look so good so that they can infiltrate secretly, that don’t have a proper respect for authority and are morally corrupt, “these like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures be destroyed.” He makes a comparison of them, with animals.

Animals have no spiritual understanding or insight, no ability to think Biblically. They just go about what their instincts drive them to. That is what he is saying about these false teachers. When you take God out of the picture and they have no understanding of God, no real true knowledge of God they are like unreasoning animals. We see that in the world around us. What do they do? I want to do it so it can’t be bad.

Like the song that was presented as having some kind of Christian truth. I don’t know where they got that but it can’t be wrong, it feels so right, you light up my life. It can’t be wrong, it feels so right? That’s how the unbeliever functions. It feels right. We have come to the place now if you feel like if you are a man and you feel like you are a woman you are a woman. If you are a woman and you feel like you are a man you are a man. You are whatever you feel like and it carries on. Why should I not be able to do what I want? And so we have the breakdown of marriage because who needs it. Some people are open to say that. Who needs it and on it goes. They are like unreasoning animals.

Over in Jude, verse 10: “These men reviled the things which they do not understand.” Revile, we have seen it three times in three verses in Peter. We get the word ‘blaspheme’ from, they speak against it, so revile gives you the idea of that but not necessarily. They are speaking against it. They are always opposed to God and His truth and what He would have done. “These men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed. Woe to them!” You understand where the unbeliever is. That is why it does no good to try to reason with them and we can just show them neo-evangelicalism which came to the fore in the 1940’s and has continued to sweep through evangelicalism right down to our day, the idea that we need to present to the world an intellectually, credible Christianity. That’s not all they were about but they had to back off then from some of those fundamentalist ideas, the full inspiration of Scripture, the Biblical account of creation, we want to present an intellectually credible Christianity to the unbelieving world so unbelieving scholars will appreciate we are scholars too. You might as well go talk to a duck. The unbeliever has no ability. We say, well do we have to talk like this? Yes, because that is how God says we are to talk. They are like unreasoning animals. You don’t start with trying to reason with them and show that we are scholarly, that our view on this or that is intellectually credible. They can’t reason like that. It makes no impact. It is going nowhere. What do we do, just ignore them? What do we do? We bring them the Gospel. We tell them about their lost condition but they don’t want to hear that. I know but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the message of Christ. The message of Christ is what, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” So when they close the door on that we don’t have any place else to go. You are closed to hear about the need of salvation. You know, well if we bring them along.

That is the foolishness of this article. We can talk about our differences and have fun doing it? No, no, no, no. We have nothing to talk about. We are spiritual enemies. I have something to tell you. You don’t have anything to tell me that I can learn from you spiritually. That sounds arrogant but it’s not. What am I going to learn from a person who in the spiritual world is just like an unreasoning animal? That doesn’t mean I have to go up to every unbeliever and say “You know, you are just like an unreasoning animal.” But I have to understand these are the kind of people that infiltrate the church. Because they say, “Well I believe like you. We all believe that we have our faith in God and the God we know through Jesus Christ. That’s not the only way to know Him. They don’t go on to that. These people that Satan brings in are adept at saying things that we would like to hear and find acceptable. That doesn’t mean where we are. Roman Catholicism is great. They can talk about, yes, you need to believe in Christ. Yes, we believe in the virgin birth, yes we believe in the resurrection of Jesus. We have so much in common. No we don’t, really, because you don’t understand any of that. You can talk about it but you don’t really understand it.

I watched the Cardinal from New York on the news program this week. Some of you may have seen him. Jovial, happy, could talk about all kinds of things that people like to hear and the good things that they are doing and all that. He was clueless, just an unreasoning animal. I don’t say that just to be offensive but Peter said we have to understand these things. Peter says I am about to pass off the scene. You need to know the reality of the situation.

So come back to 2 Peter chapter 2. We are in verse 12: “These like unreasoning animals born as creatures of instinct to be captured and destroyed.” I mean that’s the way the animals live their lives and they get hunted down for food and sport. These false teachers they are speaking against things about which they have “no knowledge and they will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed.” It can be they are like the unreasoning animals and they are doomed to destruction but probably here talking about the angels, just like those angels that they know nothing about but are doomed to destruction. So they are doomed to destruction.

Remember Matthew 25, “Depart from Me cursed ones into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” And when we get to Revelation chapter 20 unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire along with the devil and his angels. So that is the doom.

There is no excuse for this kind of silliness in the evangelical world. It softens people to think “well these, we don’t always have to view them as enemies.” We love them. We want to bring them the Gospel. We can say, “I am concerned for you, concerned for your lost condition. You are on the way to an eternal hell. Whatever else you believe you are lost but there is only one thing you must believe to be saved. Believe in the Lord Jesus.” ‘”Oh, I believe in Him.” You believe that you are a sinner lost and without hope, doomed to an eternal hell but Jesus Christ the Son of God, God in the flesh died on the cross to pay the penalty for your sin and He was raised. We wouldn’t agree on all that. That is why we may not agree theologically but we can agree about love. We can love. What does that mean? It means nothing but it opens the door to soften Christians. Well these unbelieving teachers they are not so bad. They are really nice people.

2 Peter chapter 2: “They will be suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong.” They are doomed to destruction. “Their destruction is not idle, it is not asleep” verse 3 said. Down at the end of verse 9: “God knows how to reserve the unbeliever for the Day of Judgment.” “The wages of sin is death,” physically, spiritually and eternally; physical death, spiritual death, eternal death. There is no other alternative. We must see this as serious as it is.

Now he is primarily focusing on false teachers here who infiltrate the church to destroy it and they do have a greater judgment, a greater accountability as James said in chapter 3. They are leading people astray like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. And He said what, “Sinners among the people will enter into the kingdom but you won’t.” “I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” So dealing here especially seriously we are guarding the church. That doesn’t mean that we don’t want unbelievers to come and sit in our fellowship. We want to be careful we don’t accept them as believers and thus give them responsibilities, teaching our children and so on. We don’t want to say “well you are unbeliever and you are an unreasoning animal. You shouldn’t be here.” We are happy to have them come, be exposed to the truth but those who would infiltrate among us to teach error. We have to be on guard for it. That is why we watch carefully and are careful about who is put into position. It doesn’t mean we can’t make a mistake but we realize the devil is relentless in trying to corrupt the divide God’s people.

They were “suffering wrong as the wages of doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, as they carouse with you.” You could get a misunderstanding here. “They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime.” In other words as time goes on they don’t even hide. I mean you can get on and read what they believe and they practice things more openly because as the barrier gets broken down we see Christian schools now adjusting. They have already adjusted doctrinal statements on the full inspiration of Scripture but now dealing with homosexuals. Well that is a pejorative term, you know. They are gays and they are adjusting. Well we still don’t encourage that behavior but we accept there are some who attend our school that do involve themselves this way. We go through all kinds of things and it softens us, it breaks us down. That is the way the devil does in the world.

You watch the portrayal of people in a homosexual relationship and you say, “Well they are nice people. They seem like you know, humanly speaking good people and they have concerns about being good citizens. Some of them seem even to be good parents. They adopt kids and they are good parents and pretty soon we say they are not that bad. Again, I am not saying that it is worse than this kind of sin or this kind of sin but it is a way the devil softens us up and pretty soon well yes, they would be acceptable in our church. Well any sinners can come and sit and hear the truth. They cannot promote the error.

From time to time we have had people come maybe from a cult and they come for a little bit then pretty soon they want to bring up their idea. We have to say, “You would not be welcome here if you are going to do that.” But we don’t tell unbelievers you can’t come. Invite your friends. Come to church. We have great music. The preaching is long. You know you will enjoy other things. It is a great place to bring your kids. We have great programs for kids and you want your kids to have a healthy environment. Yes, we invite them to come. They probably won’t come because they are looking for truth but invite them to come. We will take you to lunch afterwards. That’s a good way to get them to come. Come to our house for dinner, whatever.

But false teachers, those who would promote error, any kind of error, moral, doctrinal that has to be shut down. That is where Peter is. They take pleasure to revel in the daytime. They become more open as it becomes more acceptable, the point. It has gotten to the point these even with their open, unbiblical conduct were welcome and it says, “Their spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, they know what they are doing, as they carouse with you.” That carouse maybe is a little too hard, “As they eat with you.”

Come over to Jude, verse 12: “These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feast when they feast with you.” They came to the communion and they were welcome. In those days they had a meal preceding the breaking of the bread and drinking of the cup. Paul wrote about it. You don’t come to this meal with the idea that you are here because it is a time to eat. You recognize what was being represented but here these unbelievers whose ungodly lifestyle and promoting this among believers are welcome, sharing in the communion. That is what he is talking about evidently in Peter when he says that they eat with you, carouse with you but it means to eat with you. Jude explains it that even at your communion service.

Come back to I Corinthians chapter 11. It is amazing how quickly these corruptions infiltrated the church. We think churches today,,,, but look what is going on in the church. In I Corinthians chapter 11 just the end of chapter 10 leads into this where he tells them they can’t, verse 20, chapter 10: “The things which Gentiles sacrificed they sacrificed to demons not to God. I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You can’t partake at the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” So somehow they were getting the idea that it was alright to share in these meals in the context of the worship of idols but you know what the reverse of that is. We come to your place, you come to ours. We get along fine. They thought they didn’t have to make a cut off.

And so when you come into chapter 11 then Paul will tell them about the proper attitude as they come to the Lord’s Table. You understand this is in the context of believers in the church at Corinth even being confused about being involved in false worship. False worship is the worship of demons. So you cannot be connected with that and the result was when they were having trouble with whether they could go and eat at an idols temple they are naturally having problems with having the right attitude toward observing the Lord’s Table when they come to church.

The problem with sin is you can’t corral it. Well this is all right, this is not so bad. You know how it is? Once it is in, it spreads and that’s why we talk about the works of the flesh. Well, I could just do one. You know I really like this one but you can’t.

So here Peter has to write about it that these people so open and their unbiblical attitude and conduct and beliefs are acceptable to fellowship with believers when it comes to the Lord’s Table? You can join with us in worship, sure. They have, verse 14: “Eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin. They are enticing unstable souls. They have a heart trained in greed. They are cursed children.” This is not good. You know I have some friends who are unbelievers. I don’t think of them like this. Well you know that may be why we don’t have the same passion to bring the Gospel to them. We stop thinking about them in the lostness of their condition, in the hopelessness of their condition and we stop thinking about that. Well, you know we lose something of the urgency. You know it is one thing to go to someone who is wasting away with a disease and you can tell they are on the verge of death and then you think well I have to tell them. You know these are decent people. That is why God is describing how they really are. You know it is hard for us as Christians. It is the work of the devil to make his followers look good. Not all the followers of the devil are open terrorists who like to blow up people. They are not the ones who are a danger to corrupting us. It is those who seem to be religious and would like to be part of us. You know over all they are good people. We have some differences but and then it grows and pretty soon they take over. What happened to the followers of John Wesley?

You know our family, early on when I was young, we went to a Methodist Church. You know why we had to leave? Once my parents got saved, “we can’t learn the word here.” What happened to the followers of and you fill in. The reformers, now they are social organizations. The corruption – “They have eyes full of adultery and that never cease from sin. They entice unstable souls.” We will pick up at this point in our next study.

You know that is the danger, Christians not being established. Now we get blown along with every wind of doctrine. We begin to evaluate on what we think of them and how we….. All of a sudden we don’t have stability and so they make inroads. That is where we started out. Verse 2 of chapter 2: “Many will follow their sensuality.” Well we are talking about the world out there. Well he is talking about the infiltration among believers. They will get so bad that Paul writes in his last letter in the last days, the church won’t even want to hear healthy teaching anymore. They will heap to themselves the kind of teachers they want to hear. That is constantly the move.

So, not to be mean-spirited, not to be unkind or rude but we have to understand the seriousness of the situation and the battle we are in so that we understand how important it is to hold on to the truth and not yield in any way.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord for Your grace that brought the truth to our hearts and minds not because we were better. We were all out servants of the devil. We did his will. We manifested his character as in agreement with our own character and desires. We were sinners just like the rest but Lord it was Your grace that brought the power of Your salvation to our sinful hearts and minds and we rejoice in that. Lord we thank You for the understanding we have of truth. Thank You for bringing us together as a fellowship of believers and the truth that You have entrusted to us we would want to have a firm grip on. Not to be mean spirited, not to see ourselves as exclusive but to never lose sight of the fact we are in a spiritual warfare and must be conducted according to Your will so that Your Spirit can enable and strengthen and use us to remain faithful to the truth, lights in the darkness. May that be true in our lives as we live it out day by day in the week before us we pray in Christ’s name, amen.